Skilled Worker immigration is supposed to work for Canada not for unlimited foreigners coming to Canada

After the imposed two-year temporary pause for PR applications for parents and grandparents, Federal Government of Canada has taken an immediate decision of backlogging in skilled worker category of immigrants around the world to deal with backlogs and lengthy wait times.

Approximately, 300,000 applications submitted before 27 February 2008, are supposed to be return with government processing fees, which will cost $130 million estimated. Federal skilled worker applications (160,000) submitted after February 28, 2008 will remain a part of the process. It is a decision of CIC to make the immigration system in Canada faster and more flexible.

A crucial decision, changing the rules reveals the truth of betrayal by the government to the people who have been waiting over the years to get a decision on their immigration files could throw out soon from the list. The decision will affect around 280,000 people as principal applicant but their dependents.

This is one of the most intelligent things I have heard coming out of Immigration Canada. The system is supposed to work for Canada not for unlimited foreigners coming to Canada. The government reserves the right to change the rules to meet changing circumstances.

Conservative government has proposed the change in the federal budget. As soon as it is approved, the CIC department will close the files of those immigrants who applied under the skilled worker category prior to Feb, 27, 2008, if the application did not reach at any decision by a Canadian immigration officer until the end of March.

Government blames that the applications under process over the eight years reduce the ability to focus on fresh applicants with modern skills and talents who new era’s needs. In view of immigration department, the numbers of Federal skilled worker applications are highly increased in each available year in addition eligibility criteria have also been changed since 2008. Consequently, processing times exceeded and produced a significant backlog.

In 2010, CIC introduced caps policy to the program and gained success by 25% to reduce the overall backlog. However, now government has not any option without return the old files so that people can get a fast track decision on their cases instead waiting for 5 more years to wait for a decision. The applications should never have sat for this long to begin with.

Having said that however, with applications being that old, information is probably outdated at this point and I can understand the need to fix the process so all future applications are dealt with in a more timely and efficient manner.

It is still rotten for those who legitimately have applied and can fill say doctor vacancies (we have a shortage here in BC) for example. But for those who are trying to bring in relatives, or who come here to have children so they can stay, I don’t feel too sorry for them.

However, applicants have been alternative to re-apply under the new criteria but the decision simply to close those files left a bad impact on the Canadian reputation abroad. I do not think people will be able to trust in the future on the immigration process system in Canada. Immigration public will not consider Canada as a first land of opportunity as it was a few decades back and people were willing to do a long wait. Now the situation is going to be a change. This decision will always play a magnificent role at the worldwide in the Canadian immigration system character.

In my view, suddenly government of Canada has decided to make some important changes in the immigration policy, which are definitely a harsh decision for those who have been waiting for decades included principal applicants and their dependents. CIC can impose another temporary pause on the new applications besides to return old one.

Narinder Kaur SindherImmigration Program Student at Ashton College
under the tutelage of Jose Godoy Toku